Sprinkler-head for automatic fire-extinguishers.



PATENTBD JULY 14, 1903.

G. E. HIBBARD. SPRINKLER HEAD FOR AUTQMATIG'PIRE EXTINGUISHERS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPTVZOI 1901.

H0 MODEL UNITED STATES Patented July 14, 1903.

GEORGE E. HIBBARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPRINKLER-HEAD FOR AUTOMATIC FIRE-EXTINGUISHERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 733,646, dated July 14,1903.

Application filed September 20, 1901. Serial No. 75,872. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. HIBBARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Sprinkler-Heads forAutomatic Fire-Extinguishers, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to the device by which the valve of asprinkler-head is held firmly to its seat under normal conditions andtemperatures and which when subjected to a predetermined abnormaltemperature will become crippled and fall away, allowing the pressure,whether of air or water, on the under side of the valve to dislodge itand uncover the nozzle or discharge-opening. It is well understood inthis art that the construction of the valve-holding device must be suchthat it will hold the Valve seated firmly and with certainty when thereis no occasion for its release and must be capable of sustaining thestrains incident thereto throughout a long period of time, while, on theother hand, it must be such that it will with equal certainty and withgreat promptness cripple and release the valve and permit it to bedislodged when the occasion forit arises. Valveholding devices capableof meeting all of these requirements to a greater or less degree arenot, broadly, new, and hence I declare the object of my presentinvention to be theprovision of an improved valve-holding device bywhich all of said requirements will be met with absolute certaintywithin the range of the conditions to which it is subjected in ac tualuse.

To this end the invention consists in the features of novelty that arehereinafter described, with reference to the accompanying drawings,which are made a part of this speciiication, and in which- Figure 1 is aside elevation of a sprinklerhead embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is asectional elevation thereof viewed from a point ninety degrees removedfrom the viewpoint of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a View of some of the partsseparated, some of the parts being shown in elevation and others insection. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a link made up of parts unitedby solder fusible at a predetermined temperature. Fig. 5 is aperspective view of one of the three parts of which the link is made up.Fig. 6 is a perspective View of one of the toggle members. a section ofthe valve under a slight modification. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of abrace under a slight modification.

A represents the nozzle, and B the yoke or frame, which are shown asbeing integral, although this is not essential. O is the valve forclosing the nozzle, and D the distributer located directly opposite thenozzle, so that the issuing stream of water will impinge against it,said distributerbeing preferably revoluble and provided with tangentialor approximately tangential ribs or blades d, so that the impact of thewater against it will cause it to revolve and distribute the water overa large area in the form of spray. All of these parts may-be ofcustomary or of any other desired construction so long as they arecapable of cooperating with the devices hereinafter described inaccomplishing the results aimed at.

Various devices have been interposed between the valve and the'yoke forholding the valve seated and for releasing it when subjected to apredetermined temperature, and it is to a device for doing this that thepresent invention relates.

Broadly stated, the invention consists in a pair of toggles, eachcomprising two members E and E, in the nature of posts, placed end toend, with their points of contact upon 0pposite sides of the centralline of thrust, said toggles being interposed side by side between thevalve and yoke in such manner that they form a composite strut, leversfor applying endwise pressure to said toggles, and means for normallyholding them against buckling under the influence of said pressure, thetoggles being so disposed with relation to each other that when freedfrom the restraint of the holding-levers last aforesaid they will buckleoutward or away from each other.-

In its broadest aspect the invention is not limited to any particularmeans for produci'ng this endwise pressure upon the toggles or to thearrangement of the levers for holding them against buckling. Forproducing the endwise pressure I have shown and preferto use a screw F,which has threaded engagement with the yoke and has in its end a spher-Fig. 7 is ical concavity for receiving the rounded upper ends of the twoupper members of the toggles. This screw also serves to retain thedistributer D,through which it passes loosely, the portion of the screwadjacent to the distributer being without threads.

For holding the toggles against buckling I have shown and prefer to usea pair of levers G, which are independent of the toggles and aredisposed upon opposite sides of them. At an intermediate point each ofthe levers engages one of the toggles at its joint, and means areprovided for holding the levers in place and preventing them from movingfarther apart under the influence of the lateral pressure which thetoggles put upon them when the latter are subjected to endwise pressure.The means for thus holding the levers must include a joint which willgive way when subjected to the aforesaid predetermined degree ofheat-say 150 Fahrenheit-and although the invention in its broadestaspect is not limited thereto I have shown this joint as beingincorporated in a link H, which is shown in end elevation in Fig. l, inlongitudinal section in Fig. 2, and in perspective viewin Fig. 4. Thislink is made up of three plates, one of which is shown at h in Fig. 5.It is made of thin sheet metal and of substantially U shape, and at itsmid-length it has a single flute or corrugation h, formed by dies.

When the three plates are assembled to form the link, the two outsideplates are placed with their open ends in one and the same direction andthe intermediate plate is placed with its open end adjacent to theclosed ends of the outside plates, so that the composite. link thusformed has through it a longitudiening-screw F in order that it mayreach and engage the upper ends of the toggles. The

- flutes or corrugations of the several plates register, and the meetingsurfaces of all the plates are united by solder fusible at about thetemperature named. The three plates of which the link is made aresimilar, excepting that the flutes or corrugations are of differentsizesthat is to say, considered from the side of the link F at which theflute or corrugation of the outer plate presents a convexity the flutesof the several plates successively decrease in size, so that they willnest, the concavity of each being exactly complementary to the convexityof the next. In order to bring this about with certainty, thecorrugations are all produced by a single operation of the dies, theplates having been previously superposed in their proper relations toeach other, as above described.

In order to prevent the accidental disengagement of the link and levers,the latter are provided with notches g for engaging the ends of theformer. These notches are of V or other shape, which by their engagementwith the closed ends of the outer plates of the link will when strain isapplied tend to draw said ends toward each other. As a result of thiswhen the solder fuses the inclined surfaces of the notch will drawtogether said ends of the outer plates, thereby causing the oppositeends of the said outer plates to move laterally away from the innerplate, and thus the parts are torn asunder with little or no sliding orcreeping of the parts upon each other. The other ends of the levers mayonter perforations in a plate I, resting upon the valve 0, as shown inFigs. 1, 2, and 3, or the valve itself may be provided with perforationsfor receiving them, as shown in Fig. 7. In any event they are preferablyprovided with notches g for preventing accidental disengagement.

The contacting surfaces of the two members of each toggle are preferablyflat; but adjacent to these contacting surfaces what may be called theirheels are preferably rounded to provide convex surfaces, so that in theact of buckling they will rock upon each other. Preferably, also, thesecontacting surfaces are formed on lips e, which may be notched, as shownat e, for receiving the levers G, whereby the toggle members are heldagainst sidewise displacement.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 I have shown the levers Gas being made of shortstout bars, while in Fig. 8 I have shown a plate G, having at its endstongues g", which may be used instead. In any event the leverspreferably have more or less elasticity, and where bars that wouldotherwise be rigid are used they may be reduced, as shown at 9sufficiently to give them the desired amount of elasticity. Elasticlevers are preferred, because immediately upon the weakening of thesolder joint their recoil will separate and scatter the parts.

Preferably the entire mechanism is covered by a spun-metal or other capJ, which is shown in section in Fig. 2 and indicated by dotted lines inFig. 1. Its base enters within an annular flange a, formed at the marginof a disk at, that surmounts the nozzle A and forms the base of theyoke.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as newtherein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a sprinklerhead, the combination with a valve and yoke, of avalve-holding device having a pair of toggles interposed side bysidebetween the valve and yoke, independent levers arranged' upon oppositesides of the toggles and engaging them, and means including asolder-jointed link engaging the levers at one end for holding them,substantially as described.

2. In a sprinkler-head, the combination with the valve and yoke, of avalve-holding device having a pair of toggles interposed, side by side,between the valve and yoke, means for applying strain to the toggles,independent levers arranged upon opposite sides of the toggles and atintermediate points ICC engaging them at their joints, and meansincluding a solder-jointed link for holding the levers substantially asdescribed.

3. In a sprinkler-head, the combination with the valve and yoke, of avalve-holding device having a pair of toggles interposed, side by side,between the valve and yoke, means for applying strain to the toggles,independent elastic levers engaging and holding the toggles, andmeansinoluding a solder joint for holding the levers substantially asdescribed.

4. In a sprinkler-head, the combination with the valve and yoke, of avalve-holding device having a pair of toggles interposed, side by side,between the valve and yoke, means for applying strain to the toggles,independent levers arranged upon opposite sides of the toggles andengaging them, the lower ends of said levers being in engagement withthe valve, whereby they are prevented from spreading and means includinga solder joint engaging the upper ends of the levers for preventing themfrom spreading, substantially as described.

5. A link made up of three separate plates of substantially U shapehavinginterlocking flutes or corrugations, the outside plates havingtheir open ends presented in one and the same direction and theintermediate plate having its open end adjacent to the closed ends ofthe outside plates, the meeting surfaces of all of said plates beingunited by solder, substantially as described.

6. Alink made up of three separate plates of substantially U shape,having interlocking flutes or corrugations, the outside plates havingtheir open ends presented in one and the same direction and theintermediate plate having its open end adjacent to the closed ends ofthe outside plates, the flutes or corrugations of the several platesbeing of successively-decreasing sizes, whereby the meeting concave andconvex surfaces are complementary, the meeting surfaces of all saidplates being united by solder substantially as described.

7. In a sprinkler-head, a combination with the valve and yoke, of avalve-holding device having a link made up of three separate plates, theoutside plates being of substantially U shape and arranged with theiropen ends-presented in one and the same direction, a part having a notchwith sloping sides engaging the closed ends of said outside plates andmeans for transmitting the reactionary strains of said part to the valvesubstantially as described.

GEORGE E. HIBBARD.

Witnesses:

L. M HOPKINS, MARIE NIOHOLLS.

